Love Dance Goes Viral in Japan

Love Dance, which was performed during the ending part of each episode of a drama series, Nigeru Wa Hajida Ga Yaku Ni Tatsu (English title “We Married as a Job”), has become popular in Japan. The drama series is based on a comic with the same title and aired from 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm every Tuesday between October 11th and December 20th. The love dance was performed to the theme song for the drama series, Koi 恋い sung by Gen Hoshino, who starred in the drama series with actress Yui Aragaki. Koi is a Japanese word that means romance and love. The dance was created by choreographer MIKIKO. In Japanese the dance is referred to as koi dance. Right after the first episode was aired, the koi dance became popular among the Japanese public due to its cuteness and relative simplicity, and many Japanese people posted reenactment videos on Youtube. In addition to the Japanese public, the dance became popular among Japanese celebrities. For example, former figure ice skater, Nobuteru Oda posted a copy cat video of the love dance where he performed it with his fellow figure skaters, Yuzuru Hanyu, Tomoko Miyahara, and Keiji Tanaka. On December 20th, the re-enactment video by members of the US Embassy and Consulate in Japan, which is an amusing Christmas present from the US government to Japanese public, was released. In the beginning of the video, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, who dressed as Santa Clause, performs the love dance, and then other staff members perform the dance in turn.

The youtube video by the US Embassy and Consulate in Japan is titled:

恋ダンス【アメリカ大使館・領事館バージョン】

Below are the Japanese titles of re-enactment videos of the love dance. Search on Youtube to find them.

【OKURA×MARU】恋ダンス 踊ってみた 【逃げ恥】by two women in Chinese dresses

恋ダンス～ハワイアンズも踊ってみた～ by hula dancers

【TDC】逃げ恥「恋ダンス」踊ってみた♡ 登美丘高校ダンス部 Tomioka Dance Club by female members of a dance club at Tomioka High School

Gen Hoshio is a singer songwriter and works as an actor too. He was presented a new face actor award by Japan Academy Film Prize Association for his performance in the movie Hakoiri Musuko no Koi which was released in 2013.